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Sitting in the clubhouse, Mike Mussina understood very early in the final inning that Mariano Rivera was going to take everybody in the Yankees Universe for a bumpy ride.

When Mussina saw Rivera’s second pitch to J.D. Drew come in with air under it, Mussina said, “Oh.”

Considering how high Rivera raised the anxiety level throughout Yankee Stadium, it’s amazing Mussina refrained from screaming something a little more salty.

When Rivera fanned Julio Lugo with the bases loaded in the ninth to close a 2-1 Yankees victory over the Red Sox in front of 54,990, everybody exhaled.

Mussina was 11-6 and the Yankees had a much-needed victory to stop the river of blood coming from every artery.

Yet, in between Drew’s leadoff single and the 1-2 pitch to Lugo, Rivera caused some stress.

Drew singled, Rivera hit Manny Ramirez with a 0-1 pitch, Mike Lowell delivered an RBI single on a 0-1 pitch and Rivera drilled Kevin Youkillis with a 0-2 pitch.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Rivera was on the verge of flushing his first save in 23 chances.

“That was amazing, I don’t think I have ever seen that before but it happens,” Rivera said of hitting two batters in the same frame. “I don’t want to put myself in that situation, but you have to get the next guy.”

Rivera rebounded by striking out Coco Crisp with a 0-2 pitch, popping up Jason Varitek and blowing away Lugo.

“We gave ourselves a great chance with good at-bats,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “Mariano went to work and carved us up.”

The run was the first in a save situation for Rivera, who is a perfect 23-for-23.

The victory should assure Mussina a spot on Francona’s AL All-Star staff for the July 15 game at the Stadium. In six shutout innings he allowed four hits, a walk, hit a batter and fanned five. In the sixth, he felt light-headed and called it a day.

“It was too important of a game,” Mussina said of staying out there when not feeling well, although he said he wasn’t as sick as Jorge Posada, who is battling the flu.

The Yankees used Melky Cabrera’s two-out ground single to right in the second and Jason Giambi’s heavy legs to score the first run off Justin Masterson (4-3).

“You have to be good at something if you are slow,” said Giambi, who explained the good jump he got was the difference between beating Drew’s throw and being out. “I knew had to score.”

With Varitek not completely blocking the plate, Giambi didn’t have to run over the catcher. What he did was execute a slide where he went wide of the dish and swiped it with his hand.

“The throw wasn’t going to give him a good hop,” Giambi said. “Two outs, I am scoring. You have to put pressure on them.”

Wilson Betemit’s leadoff single in the sixth turned into a run on Brett Gardner’s sacrifice fly. Gardner, who was playing for the injured Johnny Damon, lofted a 2-1 pitch from Masterson deep enough to left field for Betemit to score easily.

Two scoreless innings by relievers Jose Veras and Kyle Farnsworth delivered the game to Rivera.

“Even when he is in that situation you still know he is going to get out of it,” Giambi said. “That’s the kind of career he has established. We felt we were still going to win the game.”